“In order for Kenya to move forward as a country we all need to identify ourselves first as Kenyans. I do not identify myself as a Kikuyu, I call myself first a Kenyan.”
Francis, a Nairobi taxi driver semi-affiliated with AU Abroad Kenya
One of my objectives in creating this blog, along with keeping people up to date on my months living in Kenya, is to write about issues pertaining to the country and introducing people to a country that many people do not hear too much about. My aim is make Kenya relevant to people, and to dispel those jokes and misrepresentations as Kenya and Africa as a whole as an underdeveloped, wild-west setting that we all hear about growing up and that is perpetuated by current events and media. It may be more enjoyable to write about fun things that I have done on this trip, but with the dual aim of bringing you major issues within Kenya as well. After encouragement from a few people to write this blog, I am going to address the issue that I see as one of the most fascinating (and found throughout the world), as well as what I see as one of the trickiest obstacles to progression.
The other nite, I had a complete breakthrough while having dinner with some people that I just met, and over the course of dinner and conversation, I realized that for the first time I had really experienced ethnocentrism and things just felt things differently and I could literally see and feel this issue. Before continuing though I believe that it is necessary to give a brief history lesson on politics and history in Kenya:
Kenya is a country with 42 (or 49 depending upon who you ask) different separate ethnic groups with their own customs, language, culture, and lifestyle. Before the British colonized Kenya, each ethnic group essentially had their own nation; their own separate land and lived apart from most ethnic groups. Then the British colonized Kenya and brought all of the ethnic groups together under one nation: Kenya. Over the course of Kenya’s almost fifty years of independence, they have had 3 Presidents. That’s it. 3 Presidents in almost 50 years. The first President of Kenya, the father of the nation Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu (the largest ethnic group in Kenya) ruled for twelve years or so and then died in office. Kenya was next ruled by a dictator, President Daniel Arap Moi, a Kalenjin (the fourth largest ethnic group) for nearly 25 years until 2002, when he was succeeded by the democratically elected current President Mwai Kibeki (also a Kikuyu). Over the course of President Moi’s dictatorship, he essentially dissolved the democratic process by making Kenya a one-party state for over fifteen years. He was oppressive and limited people’s freedoms and held and tortured political prisoners and imprisoned dissidents. He appointed many Kalenjin’s or friends/people loyal to his party into positions of power. Despite this repression, it wasn’t until the early 1990s that politicians stirred up tribal roots and exploited these for political gain, which led to violence. The most recent violence was during the heavily publicized post-election aftermath in December 2007 and January 2008. This time period was fueled by ethnocentrism between the Kikuyus (the ethnic group of President Kibeki), and the Luos (the ethnic group of current Prime Minister Ralia Odingo).
Up until the other nite, my exposure to different ethnic groups had been limited. My assistant program director is Luo (the ethnic group that Obama’s father/President Obama belongs to), as were all of my cultural assistants who helped break me into Kenya the first week and still hang out with us. There are a lot of Kikuyu in Nairobi as well and I have had many conversations with Francis the taxi driver about ethnicity in Kenya. I am currently taking a class called Politics and Culture in Kenya: which up to now has been heavily Kikuyu influenced and from that point of view: I read an anthropological study and history of the Kikuyu written by Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta, and I just finished a fantastic memoir written by Wangari Maathai (also Kikuyu). In 2004, she became the first African woman and first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and she undertook many causes fighting for Kenyan’s rights during the Moi era. (It is entirely thanks to her that I have learned about this time period in Kenya.) Now that I have addressed a very small, brief background history on Kenyan politics, let’s move back and talk about my dinner the other nite.
Recently, I had dinner with an American friend of mine and a family that he is friends with. My friend used to work in Kenya and is very much connected with one of the regions away from Nairobi. That area is very Kalenjin, and the family that I had dinner with was Kalenjin. I figured that out from listening to my friend talk about the area that they were from and from a certain moment in the conversation. After telling them what I was doing here and how I liked it here and whatnot, they asked about what I was learning in my Kenyan history class, and I responded that we just covered the Moi area (as brought to me through the eyes of Wangari Maathai). I said that it was an interesting time period in Kenyans history, and there response was that it had its ups and downs. I was feeling out the situation and was about to elaborate about my thoughts of Moi as a terrible leader (I had not figured out that they were Kalenjin at this point), and then the moment of realization hit me and I had this breakthrough in which I had been exposed to another point of view and another ethnic group in Kenya. It occurred to me that even if in a sense Moi practiced harsh rule and was perceived in an unfavourable light as a ruler, I could not say that because this family still has a sense of kinship with the former leader.
I find the different ethnic groups in Kenya absolutely fascinating, and incredibly difficult to comprehend at the same time. It is practically impossible for me to relate to personally, because in the United States we do not have anything close to compare with. We all come from different places and have our heritage to be proud of, but at the same time that is something in past history and we celebrate with a certain level of detachment. We personally did not grow up in this other place so we can not fully have the same level of pride and homogenous feelings towards it. It made me think of the nation of Burma, with its somewhere between 45-60 different ethnic groups and languages that all function under the same repressive rule of the tyrannical military junta. (But Burma is another issue completely and one for a different blog than An American Abroad even).
It’s amazing to me to see the level of integration that the ethnic groups have in this country. After participating in the Hospital Project a few weeks ago (see earlier blogpost), I had some of the entertainers ask me about United States Government. When I was first here, once they figured out I was Illinois, I faced many questions about our governor and what was happening with the whole scandal with the senate seat (of which embarrassingly I had no clue what exactly was going on because it was ongoing and I couldn’t follow as closely as I would have liked to from here.) But I was asked by these entertainers who were more powerful a Senator or the Governor. I had to explain that they operated in different forms of government. And then I was asked if we have mayors, etc. and one entertainer asked if we had chiefs. I was surprised by this and had to say we don’t have chiefs in government. It was amazing to be asked that however, because coming from where I have I would never think that as a possibility.
“During the Violence after the election, if I were to go anywhere near Kibera I could have been seriously hurt or killed.”
-Francis
I have had many conversations with our pseudo-resident cabdriver Francis, a Kikuyu, about the issue of ethnic groups and conflict here in Kenya. It was this quote, however that really gripped me. I knew that the post-election violence was ethnically-charged between the Luos and the Kikuyus, and that in the heavily concentrated Luo-area Kibera (see earlier post on Kibera) the worst violence took place in the whole of Nairobi. While walking around Kibera I could still see broken windows and charred and leveled shacks that have not been repaired, what I could not do as of then (and still can not do) is tell an ethnic group by appearance. (If I saw a name, however, I could venture a pretty accurate guess- Luos last name typically begins with O or an M before a consonant, Kikuyu last names begin with K and they have a whole range of Kikuyu first names and a traditional naming system I have been exposed to as well), I could not tell physical appearance however. I asked Francis how it was possible to do and he said by accent or dialect, and certain facial characteristics that I don’t remember/can not identify with.
A couple of weeks ago Kenya had this open forum called Vision Kenya in which Kenyans could be free to kick around ideas about what they want Kenya to be, but unfortunately it ultimately turned into an ethnocentric conversation for each one. Francis and I talked about this as well and he shares my opinion that in order for Kenya to really progress and move forward, the people first need to identify themselves as Kenyan, and secondly as their ethnic group. This may be difficult to do and reflects a very common question that as a development student I have studied and that the development world faces in the question of preserving culture vs. developing. Unfortunately there are no clear cut answers and every case is different. Stay tuned for what I have a feeling will be more on this issue as I become more integrated into the society.
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